The model citizen!

Our legislature’s fondness for taxing the addictions of its constituents — to wit: the nation’s 10th-highest cigarette tax, the state booze monopoly, slots parlors and casino table games — continues apace as it considers legalizing (and heavily taxing) such pursuits as online poker. I reckon its easier to soak the boozy and betting masses than to enact a sensible severance tax on the state’s billion-dollar natural gas industry.